God's War

Elsewhere, the battle raged. God and demigod versus Primordial. I noticed the suspicious absence of Yahweh from the battlefield. I did see some of his angels, along with Lucifer's dark angels. The angels, both faithful and fallen, seemed to be far better fighters than most gods and goddesses. Apparently, angelic might could actually seriously damage the Primordials, while divine magic only stunned them temporarily.

Lucifer and his dark angels burned a swath among the enemy ranks. Blade of Fire in hand, the Lord of Hell cut through them. Primordial shrieked in pain as he raged against them. They tried burning him with their elemental fires but it seemed only to annoy him. Eyes filled with devilish glee, he laughed as he slaughtered them. They bellowed in rage but could do very little against the Prince of Darkness. They had never seen anything like him, not even in the primeval chaos they hailed from. I cheered Lucifer on and went to give him a hand. I've never been a fighter, but I did what I could. I transformed myself into an elephant-sized eagle and swept across the battlefield, distracting various Primordials long enough for various gods and angels to bring them down.

We fought bravely, but we were losing. There seemed to be no end to the Primordial Ones numbers. They were teleporting into the battlefield en masse, bringing fresh troops from whatever nightmarish realm they came from. I watched friend and rival alike die. I watched Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Hunt struggle in the grasp of a Primordial. Its hand burned through her flesh, and she shrieked as she burned from the inside out. It was a grisly scene.

The gods were dropping like flies. Odin, Lord of the Scandinavian Gods joined his fallen son Thor into whatever place the essence of dead gods went when we perished. Zeus rallied the remaining Olympians and fought bravely, but in the end Olympus fell. Hera perished, as did Poseidon and his wife, the sea goddess Amphitrite. The Greek gods Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hestia, Pan, Aphrodite and Hades died as well. The god Thanatos met his end at the hands of two towering Primordials who literally tore him apart. Zeus perished when two Primordials repelled his lightning bolts before decapitating him and feasting on his bones.

Ra, leader of the Egyptian gods of the Ennead was swallowed whole by a titanic Primordial. The Egyptian god Osiris was torn to pieces, beyond even his divine wife Isis ability to resurrect. As Isis wept over the fallen body of her husband, she was devoured by a Primordial. Horus flew down from the sky, unleashing blasts of fire from his magical Spear. He avenged his parents, then he and the nascent god Hyllos, son of Hercules went looking for more evils to slay.

The Aztec gods proved to be the best fighters among our ranks that day. Especially Mextli, the Aztec god of War. They joined forces with Anansi and the other Ashanti gods, forming a powerful sphere of magical energy to trap a large host of Primordials before flying into the sky and hurtling them out of the planet's atmosphere. Nice work! In spite of our best efforts, we were losing. We were hopelessly outnumbered. Of the twenty thousand gods and goddesses who showed up to fight that day, forty percent remained.

The entire roster of the Olympians was gone, save for the gods Hercules, Ares and Hyllos and the goddesses Persephone and Demeter. The Asgardians suffered some serious losses. Lucifer's dark angels and Michael's angels had all survived the battle, as had their leaders. Since Heaven and Hell were constantly at war with one another, their inhabitants and their leaders knew a thing or two about cosmic warfare. My fellow gods didn't fare so well. We were surrounded by the Primordials. There were hundreds of thousands of them, possibly millions, and only a few thousands of us. In an uncharacteristic display of compassion, the Archangel Michael teleported the surviving gods and goddesses into the realm of Purgatory, inhabited by repentant human souls and fallen angels in search of redemption. The realm of Purgatory was under the dominion of the angel Leviathan, one of Lucifer's former friends and lovers.

In Purgatory, we licked our wounds. Many of us had lost husbands and wives, sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters in this decisive battle. The Pagan gods and goddesses of the planet Earth, along with angels from Heaven and Hell had united against the Forces of Darkness, and gotten our asses kicked. Suspiciously, Yahweh was gone. He wasn't at the battlefield. And he wasn't in Purgatory either. I found this suspicious. When I questioned Lucifer about it, he too found it odd. We went looking for Yahweh. I had some choice words for him. His plan of us banding together hadn't worked. And where was he when the battle raged?

Lucifer and I flew in the skies. The plains and fields of the earth were soaked with the blood of slain gods and goddesses. The humans didn't know divine war was upon them, but they sensed things were amiss. So they went to pray and offer sacrifices at the altars of their Pagan gods and goddesses. Gods and goddesses who were now dead. I didn't know where Lucifer was going, but I trusted him. He knew Yahweh better than any being or creature in the universe. And he knew how to find the Lord of Heaven, even if he didn't want to be found.

Lucifer took me outside of creation, to a place I seldom visited. This was the Forbidden Zone. The place where the Elder Gods had given their lives to save the world from the Primordial Ones. Most gods and goddesses, regardless of their power level, knew better than to come to that place. As an Archangel, Lucifer had little to fear. Primordial magic had yet to kill any angel. So, we navigated our way through this shapeless realm which was devoid of light, or life. Lucifer showed me a faint trail of magic. Someone divine had navigated his way through the path which we now traveled. And recently too. I smiled at Lucifer. We were on the right track.

And then we were there. Wherever 'there' was. There were cosmic entities nearby. We both sensed them, though they masked themselves. Lucifer could see them clearly, since he was Yahweh's son and first creation and had the ability level of an Elder God. My vision expanded, and I saw...them. Who were they? I couldn't believe my eyes. Yahweh was standing in the middle of chaos, speaking to a Primordial of immense size and stature. This being made the monsters we faced on the battlefield look tiny by comparison. Who in hell was that? Lucifer informed me that I was beholding Aher the Destroyer, Lord of the Primordial Ones and Slayer of the Elder Gods. And he didn't seem ready to attack Yahweh. Rather, they talked like old friends. I was stunned. Lucifer smiled. He wasn't surprised at all. He knew his Father better than anyone. He knew the depths of Yahweh's desire for dominion of the entire cosmos. I was beholding the penultimate of divine treachery. And I was humbled. In exchange for his own survival and the death of his divine rivals, Yahweh had sold us out.

Discreetly, Lucifer and I left the Forbidden Zone. We had seen enough. When we went back to the world, I felt sick to my stomach, even though I seldom ate, being divine and all. So, the Lord of Heaven had betrayed the Pagan gods and served them on a platter to the enemy. I was shocked, to say the least. Not Lucifer. He was already devising a plan of action. First and foremost, we had to warn the others. Still, we had to be careful. We didn't know who could be trusted. The others could be in on Yahweh's scheme. We couldn't take the chance. We returned to Purgatory, and plotted.

We warned the Low Powers first, the minor gods and goddesses of every land and religion. They were the most vulnerable and had the most to lose. Yahweh wouldn't have bothered to include such nobodies in his scheme. We also warned some of the surviving High and Middle Powers. Many were incredulous. More than a few were furious. They voiced their intent to destroy the Primordials and dethrone Yahweh. I shook my head in disgust. Were these gods and goddesses suicidal? We couldn't hope to beat the combined might of Yahweh, Lord of Heaven and the Primordials. They didn't heed my warning, or Lucifer's advice. Filled with anger at their betrayal, they went after Yahweh and the Primordials. The term lambs to the slaughter springs to mind.

Their plan exposed, Yahweh and the Primordial Ones struck and struck hard. Heaven's angels were ordered to take out the Pagan gods and goddesses. Led by the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, they did just that. Lucifer and the dark angels joined me and the other gods against Heaven. Even with our combined might, things looked bleak. The dark angels and Pagan gods and goddesses put up a valiant effort. But in the end, we lost. The Primordials mowed us down while the angels slaughtered us. I faced my former lover Gabriel. Once, he professed to love me. Now he brandished a Sword of Fire in the name of Heaven and came after me with angry zeal in his heart.

There are certain techniques for fighting angels. Even archangels, the most powerful of all angels. Like the gods, they cannot die. However, they're cocky and overconfident. The only thing that can destroy an angel is the Great Force, a power wielded by two beings in the cosmos, Lucifer and Yahweh. Since neither of them were coming to my rescue, I had to think of a way to get rid of Gabriel. Yahweh stood in the heavens, watching as the angels and Primordial Ones did his dirty work for him. Slaughtering his enemies. I went straight for him, with the archangel Gabriel hot on my trail.

As I fought with Gabriel, Yahweh watched. He seemed to find our fight to the death very amusing. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Unfortunately, Gabriel wouldn't give the chance. Gabriel sliced into me with his sword and I screamed in pain. I fell. He caught me in his arms. I looked at him balefully. Had our love meant nothing to him? Who was the man I once loved? A mindless puppet of the Most Egomaniacal? Sighing, I braced myself for my fate.

The archangel Gabriel brought me at his Master's feet. Gabriel offered me to his Lord. Yahweh looked at me, a smirk on his handsome, deceptively benign face. He said he knew who I was. Lucifer's latest boy-toy and the Pagan deity who had caused Heaven so much grief. He wanted to finish me off himself, claiming that he hadn't had a good fight ever since he teamed up with the Primordial Ones to defeat the Elder Gods. I stared at him, stunned. Was there no end to his treachery? His hunger for power and absolute dominance was without limit.

Yahweh lifted his hand, summoning the absolute power that was his to command. I looked at the archangel Gabriel. For some reason, he averted his eyes. As if he were ashamed of his deeds. That proved to be his undoing. I called upon every last bit of magic I had, and seized the archangel Gabriel. As a blast of godly power shot from Yahweh's hand, I hurled the archangel Gabriel in front of me, using him as a shield. Gabriel's screamed as his Master's power was turned against him. Yahweh screamed in rage as he destroyed his own faithful servant. In all the commotion that followed, I made a run for it. I dropped down to the battlefield below. Better to perish at the hand of an angel or a Primordial than to grant Yahweh his revenge.

All around me, angel and Primordial slaughtered Pagan god and goddess. Lucifer's fallen angels were practically all that remained of our forces. Most of the gods had retreated or perished. A Primordial seized me and brought me to its mouth. I struggled in its grasp but to no avail. The elemental power of the Primordial burned through me and I screamed in pain. I knew then that I was about to die. That's when Lucifer dropped out of the sky and reduced the Primordial to dying wisps of vapour with a single swipe of his sword. He then bore me away in his arms, carrying me away from the battlefield. He smiled at me as he flew me to safety. I grinned, then passed out.

When I came to, I was in Hell. Literally. I was lying in bed inside Pandemonium, Lucifer's private palace. don't know for how long I was out. When Lucifer told me, I was stunned. He told me that the Primordial's power had nearly killed me, but he used angelic magic to restore me to health. I thanked him. He laughed and shrugged. Then a grim look filled his handsome face and he explained our grim situation to me. Apparently, I had been in recovery for centuries. Over seventy five percent of the remaining gods had been slaughtered by the angels and the Primordial Ones. Lucifer had offered the survivors a way out. They could join his ruling elite in Hell. Most of them had agreed. They had no choice. They could either rule in Hell under Lucifer's command or perish at the hands of Heaven's angels.

Lucifer offered me a place at his side. I was tempted, but I refused. The planet earth was my home. It's where I belonged. Lucifer scratched his head, then told me some things which chilled me to the bone. After betraying the Pagan gods and serving them up to the Primordials, Yahweh had turned against his latest allies. He had augmented his already considerable power by absorbing the life-force of Aher, leader of the Primordials. Yahweh thus gained mastery of the Primordials. He knew their weaknesses. He slaughtered the whole lot of them. A few of the fugitive Primordials escaped to the Forbidden Zone, where legions of angels awaited them. It was a slaughterhouse. The Primordials lost. Having absorbed the powers of both the dead gods and goddesses and the Primordials, Yahweh had become a being of supreme power.

Yahweh now rules Heaven and Earth, along with the rest of the universe as the undisputed Master of All. He is known by many names. The Lord. The Most High. The entire cosmos now bows to him. His angels have inspired the humans of Earth to wage endless wars to wipe out the remaining worshipers of the now dead Pagan gods and goddesses. Those who believe in Yahweh are allowed to live and even prosper. Those who don't believe in him face a tough choice : convert or die. This conflict engulfed virtually all the nations of the world. I couldn't believe it! Yahweh had won it all.

I thought about my options. How could I return to the planet Earth? The moment I got there, Heaven's angels would come for me. Lucifer had a remedy for that. He offered to make me part like him, thereby shielding me from Heaven's watchmen. Thus, I became something truly unsettling. Half Pagan god and half angel. And stronger than both. I retained my powers of invulnerability, eternal youth and the divine magic I once wielded. However, I was now vulnerable to the Force which only Lucifer and Yahweh had. Nothing else could take me out. Not even a Primordial would be a match for me now. I was a new order of being. The last of the gods.

I returned to Earth in the late twentieth century, and made a living for myself as a supremely talented professional entertainer. I'm a very eccentric, world-famous African-American Pop Star. I'll let you guess which one. From time to time, some of my fellow gods and goddesses come up from the depths of Hell and visit planet Earth. Many of them still bear a grudge against humanity for siding with the treacherous leaders of Heaven after the war. So they usually come with hostile intent. Me? I'm no hater. I just want to live while I'm alive. Let the rest of the universe take care of itself.